Several of the families pictured - Cullen, Hofheinz and Hobby - are easily recognizable to anyone who drives around town, takes in a show or buys a plane ticket in Houston.

I was surprised, however, to find that two Chron.com readers found an even more familiar face while clicking through the slideshow. They shared stories of an "unidentified" Houstonian captured by Kessel's lens:

"This was a wonderful article. Having been born in Houston in 1945, I was fascinated by the photos from that time. Most of all, I am thrilled to see two of my grandfather Mr. A. T. (Cap) McDannald. He is the "unidentified man" in photos #25 & 26. My grandfather was an oilman (Mac Drilling Co. & McDannald Oil Co.), friend of Glenn McCarthy and others featured here, and a contributor of paintings & Native American artifacts to Houston museums."

- Elizabeth Hall Walker

"The unidentified gentleman in photos 25 and 26 is my grandfather, A. T. (Cap) McDannald, an oilman and rancher. He arrived in Texas from Missouri around 1900 aboard a cattle car, and always kept the bill of lading, which read "16 cows and one boy" above his desk as a reminder of his origins. Unfortunately I do not readily recognize the surroundings--if I had to guess, I would say either out in Ft. Bend County or up around Humble, Texas, where he had ranching operations at around the time of the photographer's visit.

I could share a lot of stories of Houston and my grandfather while growing up here in the 1950's. Thanks for publishing these photos--they generated a number of great memories!"

"'An aerial view of housing project in Houston' is a view of River Oaks at the corner of Chevy Chase Drive and Mockingbird Lane looking north up Mockingbird Land with Sleepy Hollow Court in the foreground. The island in the foreground has changed somewhat as a large sanitary sewer lift station was constructed underneath it in the 1980's."

If you have any more information about the scenes pictured in the above slideshow, e-mail dana.guthrie@chron.com or leave a message in the comment section, and we'll add it to this article.